Russian president Vladimir Putin laid flowers down next to Mikhail Gorbachev's open coffin on Thursday, 1 September.

Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, will be laid to rest in a funeral service on Saturday after he passed away aged 91.

Putin's spokesperson said he would be unable to attend Saturday’s service due to scheduling constraints, and so he instead paid his respects at the Moscow hospital where his body was being kept.

Mr Gorbachev will be buried next to his wife, Raisa, at Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

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